Ramona Constantin moved to Manchester in 2009, just as simmering resentment towards the Roma people was at its peak. "The Roma people were very scared – they would only go out to earn money and shop, and the rest of the time would stay locked up in their homes," she recalls. "Some wouldn't open their windows in case things were thrown in."

Now 26, she came to the UK in search of a better life and joined a community of up to 1,000 Romanian Roma in the terrace streets of Longsight, south Manchester.

No official figures exist but as many as half a million Roma from various countries may have moved to the UK over recent years, according to research by the advocacy group Equality. While all tend to be economically and socially marginalised, tough restrictions on Romanians and Bulgarians – so-called A2 migrants – limit them to self-employment which, combined with their often low education levels, leaves many Roma struggling to make ends meet.

Large numbers – including Constantin and her partner – have ended up selling the Big Issue in the North. Around half of all the magazine's vendors in northern England are Roma. In Manchester, a handful of others sell flowers on the streets, busk, collect scrap metal or work as cleaners.

But there have been objections to Roma selling the magazine. Simon Ashley, a councillor for Gorton South and leader of Manchester city council's Liberal Democrat opposition, is among those unhappy that by registering as vendors, they get a National Insurance number, and with it access to certain benefits.

Gateway to benefits

"I believe the Big Issue is allowing itself to be used as a gateway to benefits dependency," he says. "These people aren't homeless – they are all in houses. But because they've found a loophole which gives them access to benefits, selling the magazine is now an end in itself and not about genuine self-employment."

While A2 migrants may not claim jobseeker's allowance or income support until they have worked in the UK without interruption for 12 months, being self-employed – as all Big Issue vendors are – means they can apply for in-work benefits such as tax credits and, in some cases, housing benefit. In the absence of sufficient evidence of earnings, however, these payments are denied.

Caroline Price, director of the Big Issue in the North, insists that Romanian vendors are vulnerably housed, and as such fall into the remit of the magazine, since without this source of income most would struggle to live. "The fact is, these people are permitted to be self-employed and they are entitled to those [benefits] payments at present," she says. "That's an issue for the government, but if we don't allow this we are condemning them to life below the poverty line."

In Manchester, it is recognised that the prospects of the Roma people must be raised if community cohesion is to improve in the long term. As their numbers increased, frustration among some local people grew, with complaints about noise, aggressive begging, rubbish being dumped on the streets, truancy and overcrowding, as large extended families crammed into small rented houses. Tempers flared, and the community meetings called by the police and council to discuss the problems frequently ended in shouting matches.

But a concerted effort by the council, the NHS and the police to help Roma people integrate better into Manchester is slowly making an impact. The council's strategy group, set up in 2009, with representation from all the organisations working with Roma residents, has drafted extra police officers and cleaners into Longsight and children have been found school places.

Intensive outreach work to explain what was expected of Roma households in terms of schooling, rubbish disposal and general behaviour is starting to bear fruit. In addition, projects to remove barriers to work and provide role models have got under way.

Advice sessions support Roma to access legal employment. Most Romanian Roma in Manchester are unaware that if one householder holds a yellow card, the UK work permit that entitles A2 migrants to be self-employed, other relatives can apply for a blue card – which gives them access to the jobs market.

Meanwhile, two community members have been recruited to work with new Roma pupils in classrooms across Manchester, in a scheme aimed at improving the children's confidence. And the Black Health Agency (BHA), commissioned by the council to deliver outreach services, has employed a Roma social worker on its team, alongside its other family workers.

Valuable contribution

A spokesman for Manchester city council says: "We have been working very closely with the Roma community in Manchester to help them settle and integrate into the city. This has been done with the support, co-operation and involvement of the people already living in the areas where the Roma people have come to. The vast majority have settled well, work hard and make a valuable contribution to the city."

Meanwhile, Constantin is one of a small group with fluent English who have taken part in a six-month paid training programme delivered by the Big Issue in the North, in partnership with Manchester University, BHA and the council. Despite having no formal education, she now combines selling the magazine with working with Sure Start and Citizens Advice and is registered as a freelance interpreter.

"Before they had seen me working at Sure Start, the Roma people would never have thought it could be possible, but now they have a good example," she says. "When an organisation like Sure Start takes on a Roma person they are not employing one – they are employing 30 or 40. Not in that second, but in the future. They are giving hope to the whole community."

But cuts could jeopardise the progress made. The BHA outreach service funded through Manchester city council ended last month with no final decision over whether it will be recommissioned, while the money for its three outreach workers ends at the end of the year.

Constantin has applied for her blue card and hopes to use her new-found skills to support her community. She will soon bring her four-year-old daughter to the UK from Romania, so she can start school.

"Roma people are not bad, they are just scared," Constantin says. "They deserve a chance – let them go to school, let them work normally and then judge them."